Take Out in Vancouver

[Gobstopper]

Hello - Calgary chowhound out west in Vancouver, looking for take out reccos in the kitsilano area. I'm going to be with my newborn baby and wife for a week - we may brave a few sit downs but would like to enjoy the best take-out Vancouver has to offer.

Rangoli is on the list already - Does anyone know if Zakkushi does take away?

Wide open on price - ethnicity - etc.

Thanks much.

[tangentdesign]

I would consider Memphis Blues bar b q house - succulent ribs, pulled pork, chicken with beans and cornbread. Locations at Broadway and Granville and on Commercial. Meal deals include the Memphis feast, and for the truly gluttonous, the Elvis platter.
http://www.memphisbluesbbq.com/menu.php

-paul

[Chomp]

We like to pick up food from MacFalafel (10th & Alma) for a quick, inexpensive meal - you can get falafel, chicken, beef or lamb wrapped in a pita, or as a platter with rice, and they're open pretty late.....I think until at least 11 p.m., which is good if you're eating around the erratic schedule of a newborn! Been there, done that!

[Gobstopper]

Great tips - thanks everyone who contributed

[Gobstopper]

Night Market in Richmond?

It looks like we could probably make it to the last weekend of the Richmond Night Market - just wondering if it is worth the drive (with 6 month old) for the on site edibles?

Thanks!

[fmed]

Most of the food isn't great, but there are a few bright spots. It is usually fun, but crowded. Use a backpack-type kid carrier as it would be hard to wade a stroller through the crowds.

[grayelf]

Quick note to the OP: I love Zakkushi but even if they have take away, I'd think twice as it seems to me their menu by and large wouldn't travel well...

[Gobstopper]

Thanks for the replies so far - The sushi in Kitsilano sounds like it won't let us down.

I see what you mean about Zakkushi - however, we missed it the last time we were in Vancouver (pre baby). Our experience with Guu was great, but the hour plus wait to sit down has me worried we won't get a chance to eat izzy. Can anyone tell me how busy Zakkushi gets? would we get dirty looks for showing up at 530 with a baby?

Thanks

[fmed]

It's small and cramped at the 4th ave location so I personally would choose a different spot. You wouldn't get dirty looks, but you might have problems maneuvering all your baby paraphernalia (I know what it's like....my kids are much older now, but I still remember those days.)

[grayelf]

If it's izakaya you're after and not specifically things on sticks, you might try hitting Hapa on Yew right at 5:30. While I haven't eaten at this one (only the one on Robson) I've poked my nose in because it's right next door to our favourite "nice" sushi place Kibune and it is much more spacious than the Zakkushi on 4th, much as I love the latter.

Now that I'm mentioning it, you could easily go for an early dinner at Kibune if you were up for sushi and very good kitchen items on site instead of takeout. They have tatami rooms and regular booths and you can reserve. There are often babies of every age there when we go later too. In fact we took my niece there for her first sushi when she was 6 months old (see photo of the tiny sushi the itamae made for her with regular chopsticks added for size perspective -- don't worry, we ate it for her!) Yoko-san will take good care of you.

[Gobstopper]

Great point fmed - appreciate that - and thanks for that kid specific recco grayelf - sounds perfect.

Any chinese take outs in the area?

[Philx]

Here are a couple:

Connie's Cook House
Address: 2135 West 4th
Phone: [phone]

Tang's Noodle House
2807 W Broadway
[phone]

I would say both are decent Cantonese type restaurants and both provide value for money particularly with their lunch specials but neither reaches gourmet levels.

Here is another possibility:

Hot Cuisine
2083 Alma Street #220
Vancouver, BC V6R 4N6
Tel: [phone]

http://www.hotcuisine.ca/

[moltmonster]

Went to Nan sushi tonight and was not disappointed. The biggest servings of tuna I have ever had, and all was fresh and delicious. 3 of us ate plenty, for 45.00. Thanks for the recommendation - it's worth the bike ride from Main and Broadway. Outstanding!

[grayelf]

Glad you liked it moltmonster. I actually deaked in there for a quick takeaway lunch today -- giant yam roll (8 big pieces for $3.95) plus two pieces of nigiri (one of which I just noticed she forgot to charge! And they threw in a miso soup, if you can believe it. Just as good as Monday night even after walking home. I noticed they did not have the AC on and it was pretty warm in there -- maybe they only turn it on when they have guests dining in??

[grayelf]

At the risk of sounding like a shill for Nan, as I mentioned above we went back on Friday and once again, it was excellent, and only a few dollars more than when the three of us went for tons of food. I particularly enjoyed the sunomono as the noodles were nice and firm and the marinade not too sweet. This is a dish often done poorly I find but not here. A few more pix...

[Gobstopper]

Can you tell me what the dish in the middle of the third picture is? everything looks great.

Sunomono has all but vanished in Calgary so I'm looking forward to it.

[grayelf]

That was another complimentary (!) offering, a fresh crab salad which I sadly could not taste as I have a crab/lobster food sensitivity. The others in my party enthusiastically narfed it up so I take it it was good :-).

[grayelf]

Just a heads up that Nan Sushi on 4th Avenue is no more -- it is now called Lano Sushi. Don't know if the menu has changed...

[twinkienic]

Cafe D'Lite - Chinese-Malaysian at 3144 W. Broadway

[grayelf]

When Win's was on Arbutus we used to go for their hot and sour soup but I haven't tried it since they moved to Fourth.

Also what about some butter chicken from Indian Oven on Fourth? I haven't tried it (not a huge fan of that style of Indian) but I have a couple of friends who are reasonably Chowy that enjoy it.

[grayelf]

Oops, big nix on Win's from the Chowish 'rents...

[selena03]

Good idea recommending butter chicken for takeout...I have eaten at Indian Oven and IMO didn't like the butter chicken (high sugar, tomato soup like taste) or naan-a little too westernized (although butter chicken is a western invention:).
My favourite Indian restaurant ever in Vancouver was Tamarind on West Broadway (closed now of course) and they own Curry 2 U in the food fair area of Granville Island where they do takeout. I haven't eaten there but would think it would be pretty good based on Tamarind? Has anyone been?

[grayelf]

I loved Tamarind -- remember the Freddy Roll (I think that was the name)? It was kind of an Indo-spring roll -- quite delicious. They also did a great shrimp curry IIRC but I digress... Sounds like Curry 2 U would be worth a shot based on its pedigree. I still haven't found a butter chicken in Vancouver I'd really go out of my way for but then again I haven't tried enough here as I don't frequent that style of cooking.

[peter.v]

Maenam does take out too!

[grayelf]

Tons of wee Japanese places doing decent takeout in Kits -- our current go-to for what fmed calls "lunch-grade sushi" is Jun on Broadway. Their bentos are really decent and good value. There is a new one that just opened on Fourth just west of MacDonald -- if it is open tonight we may investigate and will report back :-).

[Sam Salmon]

For great sometimes quite busy*Japanese run* take out Sushi

Sushi Aoki 1888 W. Broadway
http://www.dinehere.ca/restaurant.asp...

[grayelf]

Hey Sam, I know you are a fan of Sushi Aoki and we used to be when we lived around the corner. We went back a month or so ago and it was a shadow of its former self. I couldn't even bring myself to post on it as I like the owners so much :-).

On a brighter note, the new place I mentioned is called Nan Sushi and it is excellent! This is only their fourth night open and I'd go back tomorrow, except that I probably will still be full. Three of us ate till we could eat no more for $47 taxes in -- I'll post a few pix to get you all drooling. The setup is obviously catering to take out as there are only about 15 seats but it is a tastefully appointed little room, complete with china instead of the usual plastic dishes you see in a smaller local joint. And (bliss!) it has air conditioning. The owners are very welcoming and have an interesting and varied menu -- DH is the itamae and has more than 15 years experience. We even got a nice little green salad as a gratis starter, and a carved up orange for dessert. This is a class act. Let's hope they can keep up the quality and portion sizes. They are also going to be adding more rolls as they get, er, rolling more. They have gobo on back order too which Mum is looking forward to.

The first two photos are of the shoyu trays, then the cha mug, then a shot of most of the resto...

Nan Sushi 2708 West 4th Avenue
Vancouver BC [phone]
Mon-Sat 11-10 Sun 1-9

[grayelf]

The free salad, a gorgeous plate of nigiri (the chopped scallop gunkan was huge), the "eating" plates, and the most enormous cuts of local tuna I've ever encountered -- if you cut each piece in half, they were still much larger than the average slice. And good -- oh yeah, creamy smooth, delicate flavour and so fresh with no fishyness at all. Top sashimi I've had in recent memory (better than Lime if taste bud memory serves).

[fmed]

Check out the knife skills on that. Nice find grayelf!

[grayelf]

Yeah, I got so carried away wittering on about the plates and the food itself, I forgot to mention that this guy has some mad skills with the knife, not to mention a strong asthetic. My pictures simply don't do the presentations justice. These creations were as pretty as I've seen anywhere, high or lower end, and the attention to detail really impressive. This is not a place where they've got a bunch of rolls half made in the back and they throw them together -- you wait a few minutes but it is so worth it.

[grayelf]

And a final four shots: takoyaki (not done in the round template but I really liked them and they were the right golf-ball size), yam roll (this was outstanding with freshly made thin yam tempura welded on top and avocado and shiitake inside), tamago roll (the one miss for my parents in that they found the egg wasn't sweet enough for them but I actually prefer it that way), an unfortunately fuzzy shot of the "cowboy roll" (feather light double shrimp tempura with tempura crumblies and spicy mayo -- delectable) and finally the sakura roll which is supposed to have yamagobo but since they were out of it itamae-san subbed in all sorts of goodies so this ended up like a super-veggie roll with vinegared ebi -- in case you are wondering the wrap is yellow soy bean paper. This roll was slightly sweet and made a perfect end to the meal along with the chilled sectioned orange.

And did I mention that the most expensive single item on the menu is $8.95? And that the 1/2 lb of tuna was $7.25? We will be back, and soon.

[karen2006]

Thanks for the post! We'll be in Vancouver in a few weeks; can't wait to try!

[grayelf]

You're welcome, karen. Do post separately if you want any other ideas from the Western Canada Hounds before you arrive!

[selena03]

sounds delicious-we are going to try it today. We don't eat sushi very much so are not familiar with etiquette: can I request some kiddie sized rolls for my toddler? Will they do that in most sushi restaurants?

[grayelf]

Hey selena -- the tiny rolls we got at Kibune were a special thing that the itamae prepared for us because our family are regulars. I just thought they were so darn cute I had to share :-).

One of the good things about sushi IMO is that the pieces in the rolls are more or less bite sized so they work pretty well for small fry. If you want to be sure and get smaller pieces, order rolls that only have one filling (the ones under rolled sushi that list only one ingredient) -- this might work better for children anyway as I've noticed they often balk at combining items; I know I wanted to eat everything separately as a child :-).

I've also noticed kids like eating edamame as they are fun to shell and taste quite mild and incidentally are good for you! I'm just rereading the menu and notice they have a sashimi salad that will be a must-try on our next visit but likely not ideal for the little 'un unless s/he is quite adventuresome. I also notice they don't have tempura listed separately though it is in some of the rolls -- I wonder if they would do a small order for you if you asked nicely -- that might be a good bet for the kiddy. Good luck and let us know how you fare.

[selena03]

Hi Grayelf, I tried Nan Sushi yesterday. We really enjoyed it. Thanks for the great rec. Although we left our daughter with her Nana, we will def take your kid friendly suggestions next time we dine out at a sushi restaurant with her.

[selena03]

BTW I forgot to mention what we had! Cowboy, Jenny, California, Spicy Tuna. Our fave was the cowboy-slightly spicy and crunchy-very good:).

[grayelf]

LOL, we went back again last night as the SO was keen to try it. Glad you liked it -- the Cowboy roll is pretty great. My other fave is the yam roll -- simple but oh so good.

[grayelf]

BTW we think the folks at Nan are Korean -- haven't had a chance to inquire discreetly but they deffo weren't speaking Japanese last night. Also the AC was on which was a good thing!

Will be lunching with five under seven tomorrow including a 13 mo old in Steveston so kid-friendly adventures await -- post to come on separate thread!

[twinkienic]

We went to Nan a couple weeks ago and had a pretty disappointing experience. Certainly the portions are large. There were 2 of us, and we ordered 2 rolls and 2 sashimi plates and this was far too much food. However, the salmon was cut too large for my taste (I would estimate about 4x the size of most others places per piece) so that I had to take many little bites to try to adjust the fish:soy ratio. It was also served slightly too cold. The sushi rolls were large (also requiring multiple bites), and they had some interesting non-traditional rolls. However, the rice was poor quality (not fresh, overly cold) which really ruined the rolls for us. It's too bad, as we would have liked to have a go-to sushi place practically in our back yard.

[grayelf]

Thanks for the update and perspective, twinkie. The last two times I've had takeout it hasn't been anywhere near as good as the visits we posted on (with the caveat that I did mention the slab-like sashimi, though it wasn't too cold). I was hoping it was a drop in quality because of wait time but now I am afraid :-(. The rice was still good though...

[twinkienic]

Sadly, I found the same decline at Aoki last time I went (about 2 weeks ago). The fish wasn't as fresh as I'd remembered, and there were bones left in my toro sashimi.

Looking forward to trying out Nan Sushi - thanks grayelf!

[grayelf]

You're most welcome -- I'm crossing my fingers they can maintain the high standards they've set. Let us know if you need auxiliary stomachs when you go; it's literally three blocks from my house!

Sorry to hear confirmatory experience re Aoki though -- I was hoping we hit it on a bad day...

[islandgirl]

Go Fish down at Granville Island/Fisherman's Wharf does take away. It's also a great way to avoid the line-ups!

[Sam Salmon]

Great Caesar Salads from Darbys they're Happy to do take outs

http://www.darbyspub.ca/